Gibson Girls: The Perfect Antidote to Fashion Week Futurism

Fashion week is generally about looking forward, assessing developing trends, and discovering new engines of creativity that are likely to determine the way people dress and define style in the months and years ahead. In Manhattan last week, tastemakers from all over the world attended elaborate runway shows and extravagant parties, searching for innovations that might suddenly spread like wildfire throughout popular culture.

Ironically, though, the greatest expression of style and beauty that I encountered last week did not appear in a designer’s collection or at an ultra-exclusive industry celebration; instead, I found it during an overnight trip to Seven Hundred Acre Island, along coastal Maine. It was among the patrician members of the understated Down East community that I first heard the story of fashion’s historically famous “Gibson Girl,” and saw the iconic images featuring her classic good looks and traditional feminine style. Just before the turn of the 20th century, Charles Dana Gibson, a gifted illustrator born to a political family of wealth and distinction, created a portrait of a glamorous young woman that took all of society by storm. The illustration was thought by critics at the time to depict female sexuality and independence in its very best and most progressive form. It was considered an expression of the nation’s rising cultural sophistication, a post-Civil War rendering of refinement and athletic gracefulness. To modern eyes, of course, Gibson’s pictures of delicate Gilded Age heroines reflect a bygone era; nevertheless they retain their sex appeal more than 100 years after making their first appearance in print.

One of Gibson’s most celebrated models was his wife, the legendary Southern belle Irene Langhorne of Virginia. Though it may sound trite to say so, she was the unrivaled “it girl” of her generation. Newspapers mentioned her presence at social events wherever she travelled, which is saying something, as there was hardly an Eastern city she failed to visit during her years as a debutante. Perhaps her crowning achievement on the formal party circuit was the occasion when society gatekeeper Ward McAllister, the man responsible for developing the exclusive crew of A-listers known as the “Astor Four Hundred,” asked her to accept the position of honor at a legendary Manhattan Ball.

Among those belonging to Irene Langhorne’s inner circle of high-powered friends and family members was her sister, Nancy Langhorne, who, in addition to marrying the exorbitantly wealthy Waldorf Astor, later became the first woman ever to sit as a member of Parliament in the British House of Commons. What’s interesting is that, despite Nancy’s success in the public sphere, historians say she never was able to establish herself on the same ground as her sister Irene, a stunning example of beauty and a symbol of high fashion.

The legacy of the Gibson Girl, especially the direct connection it bears to Irene Langhorne, is interesting to consider in the wake of New York’s widely followed Fashion Week. It makes you wonder if the relentless focus on What’s Next doesn’t occasionally cause people to overlook stylistic inspirations from the past. A quick Google search for “Gibson Girl” produces a number of original images. In some, you can clearly see in the background what appears to be the rocky Maine coastline at Seven Hundred Acre Island, where Gibson summered and kept a studio—the scene still looks exceptionally good.